Philology 2: Introduction To Old English Language And Literature
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Philology 2: Introduction To Old English Language And Literature
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Universiteit Leiden (UL)
Een lijst (zonder verdere uitleg) van de feiten die je moet weten voor het tentamen. Een voorbeeld:
The periods of Viking activity in England
1: 793-851. Hit and run raids between the harvests at home.
2: 851-865. Larger fleets and settlement.
3: 865-878. The Great Heathen Army. A massive ...
Philology 2: Introduction To Old English Language And Literature
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SUMMARY PHILOLOGY LECTURES
The four big invasions
1. Who? The Beaker people; Bronze Age farmers
When? 2500 BC.
What did they bring? A disease that killed 90% of native people; stone monuments (hunebedden,
Stonehenge)
2. Who? Celtic tribes
When? 600-500 BC.
What did they bring? Place names; language (brittos = tattooed people; Albion = white (cliffs of
Dover))
3. Who? The Romans
When? Caesar tried and failed in 55-54 BC. Claudius succeeds in 43 AD. Britain is a Roman province
from 43 till 410.
What did they bring? Brick buildings; infrastructure; Hadrian’s wall (122 AD) to keep out Celts and
Picts; place names (Chester); Christianity
Why did they leave? In 410 emperor Honorius calls the Roman troops back to Rome because of
attempted invasions by northern tribes such as the Goths. The Britons were scared to be left alone and
asked for Rome’s help but Rome refused. The Britons then asked the Angles.
4. Who? The Anglo-Saxons
When? 449 AD.
What did they bring? Place names
Settlement of the Germanic tribes
1. Jutes settle in Kent
2. Saxons settle in Essex, Wessex, Sussex and Middlesex
3. Angles settle in East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria
The heptarchy
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Wessex, Essex, Sussex and Kent
Synod of Whitby (664)
1. Date of Easter
2. Tonsure (Romans: crown of hair; Irish: hair on top)
Sources from Old English period and their downsides
1. Source: Inscribed runestones
Downside: short, unimportant messages
2. Source: Christian writings
Downside: texts are highly biased/politically coloured
3. Source: Icelandic sagas from 12th and 13th centuries
Downside: there are mythical creatures in them. Where do you draw the line between fact and fiction
4. Source: archaeological finds
Downside: we need to interpret these finds ourselves
Viking activities
1. Farming
2. Trading (based on archaeological finds)
3. Slave trading
4. Exploring
5. Raiding and plundering
, Periods of Viking activity in England
1. 793-851. Hit and run raids between the harvests at home.
2. 851-865. Larger fleets and settlement.
3. 865-878. The Great Heathen Army. A massive fleet of warriors that start conquering almost all Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms except Wessex
Reasons why Alfred the Great was an unlikely king
1. He was the youngest of 5 sons. All of whom died (the last three because of the Vikings)
2. He wasn’t groomed for kingship but for an ecclesiastical career as bishop
3. He was a very sickly person, he had various unknown diseases
Three innovations of Alfred the Great
1. Reorganisation of the military. The military used to consist of volunteers and had a high degree of
desertion because of the harvest and the need to protect wife and children. Alfred divided the military
forces in two groups so there would always be people at home.
2. He founded the English navy (Viking inspired flat bottomed ships)
3. He created a system of burhs, fortifications every few miles so they could quickly withdraw into a
fortified town.
How Alfred the Great revived learning
1. He recruited Asser, Grimbald, John the Saxon etc., so there would be scholars at the English court
2. He founded a court school
3. He translated books “most useful for men to know” from Latin into English, making English a language
of writing and learning. These were books about Christianity and history.
4. He started the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
The Viking fourfold legacy
1. Economic: York starts growing under influence of the Vikings (the population and economically
because it becomes part of the trading network)
2. Cultural: stone art depicting mythology; hogbacks (grave markers that resemble a Viking longhouse)
3. Linguistic: loanwords (die; skirt; window; awkward)
4. Political: before there were seven kingdoms, after there is one England under one king, this creates
stability
Reasons why Æthelred was a bad king
1. He tries to pay the Vikings off with Danegeld but they just keep coming back
2. He marries Emma of Normandy to make a pact with Normandy, the launching plate of the Vikings. This
also does not get rid of the Vikings
3. St. Brice’s Day Massacre, 13 November 1002. Mass murder of the Vikings. Among these murdered
Vikings was the sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark. This king sends a massive fleet to England
and manages to conquer England.
Reasons why Cnut was a good king
1. Presents himself as an English king
2. Marries Emma of Normandy
3. Enlists Wulfstan
4. Uses Old English
5. Supports English saints and churches
1066: the claimants of the throne
1. Harold Godwinson. Edward’s brother in law
2. Harold Hardrada, King of Norway. Related to Cnut
3. William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy. Related to Emma of Normandy; claims Godwinson
promised him the English throne
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